Folding furniture



Sept. 1, 1936 E. VANDERMINDEN v FOLDING FURNITURE- Filed Oct. 14, 1935INVENTOR A TTORNEY Patented Sept. 1, 1936 UNETEE STATES PATENT OFF-IQEFOLDING FURNITURE Edwin 'Vanderminden, Granviile, N. Y. ApplicationOctober 14, 1933, :Serial No. 693,539

1 Claim. (Cl. 155-417) This invention relates to folding chairs andespecially to means for preventing such chairs from being unfolded inthe wrong direction.

Such chairs comprise a plurality of oppositely 5 disposed crossedmembers which are pivotally secured together in a manner that permitsthem to be folded into a compact unit. Heretofore, when unfolding suchchairs considerable difficulty has been experienced to insure that thevarious l crossed members rotate about their respective pivot pins inthe proper direction.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide means forpreventing the various crossed members in structures of this sort from15 being rotated about their respective pivot pins in the wrongdirection and to this end certain of the crossed members are providedwith stops which engage other members in the event an attempt is made tounfold such structures in the wrong 20 direction.

For a clearer understanding of the invention reference may be made tothe accompanying drawing. In the drawing, however, the invention ismerely shown in preferred form and by way 25 of example but obviouslymany changes and variations may be made therein and in its mode ofapplication which will be comprised within its spirit. It should,therefore, be understood that the invention is not-limited to anyspecific form 30 or embodiment, except in so far as such limitations arespecified in the claim.

Referring to the drawing:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a folding chair embodying the featuresof the present in- 35 vention;

Figure 2 is a rear view of one side of a chair partially folded; and

Figure 3 is a detail view, in section, the view being taken along theline 3-3 of Figure 2.

40 As shown, two oppositely disposed legs Hi and H are connectedtogether at their opposite ends in spaced relation by spacers I2 and I3to form a back supporting frame. Two oppositely disposed legs I4 and i5cross the legs in and II and 45 are pivotally secured thereto by pivotpins l6 and I1 respectively and are connected together at their oppositeends in spaced relation by spacers I8 and L9 to form a seat supportingframe. A flexible rest member 20 such as a strip of canvas 50 or othersuitable woven material, is secured at one end to spacer l2 and at theother end to spacer l8. Two oppositely disposed struts 2| and 22 arepivotally secured at their upper ends to the seat supporting legs l4 andI5 by pivot pins 23 and 24 55 respectively. The lower ends of the struts2| and 22 are connected together in spaced relation by a spacer 25, thespacer 25 being adapted and arranged to be retained in a set of aplurality of sets of oppositely disposed grooves 26 in the rear or lowerportions of the seat supporting legs l4 5 and I5. The height of thechair may be adjusted by varying the position of the spacer 25 in theoppositely disposed grooves 26. Two oppositely disposed arm rests 21 and28 are pivotally secured at their inner ends to the struts 2| and 22 bypivot pins 29 and 30 respectively. The outer ends of the arm rests 21and 28 are pivotally secured to the upper ends of arm rest supports 3|and 32 by pivot pins 33 and 34 respectively. The lower ends of the armrest supports are pivoted to legs I0 and H by pivot pins 35 and 36respectively. To prevent the chair from being unfolded in the wrongdirection the arm rest supports are provided with stop members. The stopmembers desirably employed comprises extensions of the pivot pins 35 and36 which are adapted and arranged to engage the arm rests 21 and 28respectively in the event an attempt is made to unfold the chair in thewrong direction. To prevent these pivot pins from remaining exposed whenthe chair is folded the arm rests 21 and 28 are provided with grooves 31in which the pins fit.

When the chair is unfolded it is in the position shown in Figure 1. Tofold the chair the spacer 25 is removed from the oppositely disposedgrooves 26. The crossed seat supporting legs and back supporting legsare then pivoted about their pivot pins I6 and H until they are inalignment. The struts 2| and 22 are then swung upwardly about theirpivot pins 23 and 24 until they are in alignment with the legs. As thestruts are swung upwardly the inner ends of the arm rests 21 and 28 arecarried upwardly and inwardly about their pivot pins 29 and 30respectively and the outer ends thereof are carried downwardly andinwardly about their pivot pins 33 and 34 respectively. Simultaneously,the upper ends of the arm rest supports are carried backwardly about thepivot pins 35 and 36 re spectively until the arm rests and the arm restsupports are in alignment at which time the extensions of the pivot pins35 and 36 are disposed in the grooves 31. Under such conditions, furthermovement of the struts 2| and 22 about their pivot pins 23 and 24 in acounter clockwise direction as viewed in Figure 1 is prevented by theextensions of the pivot pins 35 and 38. Movement in a clockwisedirection, however, which in the present case is the desired direction,is permitted.

While the pins are shown and described as being carried by the arm restsupports 3| and. 32, it is obvious that the same result would beobtained by pins securedto the back supporting legs I0 and i i inposition to engage the arm rests 21 and 28 when the chair is folded.Likewise, it is evident that the stop pins may be carried by the armrests 27 and 28 in which case, they would engage either the arm restsupports 31 and 32 or the back supporting legs ill and H as desired.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

A chair of the class described comprising two back supporting legsconnected together in spaced relation, two seat supporting legsconnected to gether in spaced relation, said back supporting legs andsaid seat supporting legs being ,pivotally connected together betweentheir ends, two oppositely disposed struts pivotally connected at theirupper ends to the back supporting legs and connected together at theirlower ends by a spacer, a plurality of oppositely disposed grooves insaid seat supporting legs adapted to engage said spacer, two oppositelydisposed arm restspivotally rest supports to said seat supporting legs,said arm rests being recessed and said pins which connect the arm restsupports to the seat supporting legs being extended outwardly to engagesaid "recesses to form interengaging stops when the chair is folded.

EDWIN VANDERNIINDEN.

